An account of the wildlife I come across and hopefully pictures to bring the account closer

Sunday, 17 August 2014

Sunday 17th. August 2014

With the weather due to deteriorate from today , I did the High Elms butterfly transect yesterday morning , and after an initial Speckled Wood , spotted what I thought was a damaged White some

way ahead . Closer inspection found the tell-tale spot of Clouded Yellow in the middle of the hind

underwing . In the wind , it took off and landed a couple of times , the topwing being as white as any White , but I knew that if I was going to get a positive ID , I needed a shot of the open topwing . So I followed each time it flew amongst the long grass and proceeded to get a lot of out of focus shots ,

until a lucky one managed to capture what was required . I have heard of helice form females , but have never seen one myself , but my thoughts also strayed to a possible Pale CY female , a species that I have never seen . Having got the shot , I carried on with the transect , knowing I had two and a half hours plus before I could get the question answered . As expected , Meadow Brown numbers , although well down again , came top with 59 , but surprisingly were equalled by Common Blue , the second brood rising from 46 last time . Brown Argus were also up at 28 , from 22 last time , but they were the only 3 species to be found in double figures . Gatekeeper were down to 8 from 24 , and Silver-washed Fritillary down from 13 to 5 . The 'Whites' were well represented by the CY already mentioned , Large 1 , Small 1 and Green-veined 2 , along with Brimstone 3 . the two surprises on Burnt Gorse were a tiny pristine Small Copper , only the 9th. recorded on transect this year , and a

2nd. brood Dingy Skipper , naturally looking very pristine too . This is usually the first butterfly I find on transect , but this year it dropped back to 7th . Just a single Comma was recorded , this being

the more normal form with a dark underwing , as opposed to the light underwing of the 'hutchinsoni'

form that I have been seeing recently . 5 Speckled Wood and 2 Small Heath were the remaining species recorded , with again , no White-letter Hairstreak found ., but in the bottom clearing , I

watched a Hornet searching for a meal , and finding one , I just hope he didn't find the WLHs .
Whilst on site I heard the two Lancasters and the Spitfire and Hurricane take off heading for airshows

in the SE from nearby Biggin Hill airport , but always had a thick canopy overhead , the only shot I did get was of a Dakota , I think . When I got home I contacted Martin , but he was out with the local butterfly group , so I posted a couple of the CY shots for the experts to ID , which they duly did , a female helice form CY , not my hoped for PCY , but very pleased to have got her on the transect list .
And finally , a few bits from the garden . A couple of final instars of Shieldbugs ,before adulthood ,

Common Green Shielbug / Palomena prasina ,

and the Hairy or Sloe Shieldbug / Dolycoris baccarum .

A spider sp. Carol found , the smaller oval cream shape is her abdomen and the larger ball , her egg sack ,

and this could be the last shot of the Field Mouse emptying the bird feeder , as I found it's back half on the lawn , the front half missing , looking as if the local cat had been involved . The mouse probably wasn't quick enough , but the feeders should last a bit longer now .

Thanks once again for your excellent observations - In respect of our chat on White Hill, I recorded this in 1987 on the 20th August, (just after moving house to Otford Mount), when the chalk hill blues were at their peak - 'a high density of chalk hill blues are present in the area above the telephone exchange, with the population impossible to estimate and possibly running into thousands'!